Volume 10, no. 1:

Rivalry and Collaboration: The Role of Mérope in Act I, Scene 4 of Quinault and Lullys Persée**

Abstract

Application of Forestiers génétique théâtrale to Quinaults libretto for Lullys Persée (1682)
demonstrates the importance of Mérope, a character invented by
Quinault. In Act I, scene 4—analyzed here with attention to verse
forms, phonemes, syntax, frequency of character alternation, recurring
lines, and sectional form—Méropes two brief interruptions
of an argument give it much of its essential shape. Large-scale musical
form complements poetic structure and meaning. Though she has a surprisingly
large role and is essential to the structure of the libretto, Mérope
is nonetheless not a central character and must disappear before the end
of the opera.

1.1 The collaboration between Philippe Quinault and Jean-Baptiste
Lully was one of the most successful in the history of opera, yet we
have only anecdotal evidence of how they worked.1
We do have the results of their work, however, and one way of gaining
insight into their creative process is to consider what they did with
what was available to them. For example, in writing the libretto for
Persée, what did Quinault do to adapt the legend of Perseus
and Andromeda into a work that could stand alone as a tragédie?
What did he then do to create well-crafted scenes that could easily
be set to music? In composing the score, what did Lully do to create
a musical structure that was compatible with the poetic structure that
Quinault had given his text?2

1.2 More particularly, does the shape of the final product
help us to understand why Quinault created the character of Mérope
and gave her such an extensive role, when he already had three principal
characters as well as Cassiope, Céphée, and a host of
additional mortal and immortal secondary characters? How did he work
her into Ovids account of the relationship among Persée,
Andromède, and Phinée, the three principal characters?
What sort of musical structure did Lully give to the scenes in which
Mérope interacted with the principals?

1.3 In an attempt to answer some of these questions, I would
like to propose a reading of Act I, scene 4 of Persée from the point of view of literary form, and then consider how Lully
responded to some key aspects of this form. This is the first scene
in which Mérope is present with any of the principal characters,
and it is easily the longest scene in the libretto (in terms of the
number of lines). If Quinault introduced an invented character into
an already long scene between two of the principal characters, it would
seem that he had important reasons for doing so, that he would introduce
this character carefully, and that such a scene would repay careful
consideration of its literary and musical structure. Before looking
more closely at this scene, however, it will help to consider the role
of Mérope in the overall structure of the libretto, and to consider
the libretto in the context of those that preceded and followed it (see
the plot summary and libretto
with English translation).

2. Persée in Relation to Quinaults
Other Operas

2.1Persée is the seventh of the eleven librettos
for tragédies that Quinault wrote for Lully from 1673
to 1686.3 Quinault probably wrote most of it in the second half of 1681, although
the premiere did not take place until 17 or 18 April 1682. Seen in the
context of all eleven librettos, it is a pivotal work, at the same time
looking back to earlier works such as Thésée (1675)
and Atys (1676) and looking forward to Phaéton
(1683). All of these works involve rivalries among the members of two
couples. Persée is similar to Phaéton in
the importance it gives to a variety of rivalries, but different from
it in that the rivalries in the latter are more political than amorous.
As for Thésée and Atys, Persée
features the same combination of relationships that one finds in the
two earlier works: males A and B love female A, females A and B love
male A.4

Thésée

Atys

Persée

Male A:

Thésée

Atys

Persée

Male B:

Égée

Célénus

Phinée

Female A:

Églé

Sangaride

Andromède

Female B:

Médée

Cybèle

Mérope

Looking back still further, one sees that Persée is
also similar to Alceste (1674) in that it features a woman loved
by several men, one of whom (Persée, Alcide) is willing to undertake
a seemingly impossible mission to save her, and another of whom (Phinée,
Lycomède) resorts to violence in an effort to win her; and to Cadmus et Hermione (1673) in that the heros great victories,
which could be seen as marking the end of the plot, come at the end
of Act IV and are followed by yet another conflict.

2.2 These plot elements are of course found in many of the
eight tragédies with mythological subjects, but not in
Isis (1677) or Proserpine (1680), the two that come at
the midpoint of Quinaults collaboration with Lully and that immediately
precede Persée. This is not the place to go into possible
reasons for these differences, but it is important to note that Persée
is the first libretto after Isis and Quinaults two years
of disgrace (1678–9) to go back to the earlier type of plot, featuring
a traditional hero who is trying to win the hand of the princess in
spite of his rivals. It is this return, and at the same time the suggestion
of the political turn that Quinaults treatment of rivalry will
take in Phaéton, that makes the relationships among the
characters so interesting in Persée, the only Quinault
libretto in which four mortal characters are involved in a love relationship
and all play truly important roles, and the first in which the heros
rival is also a candidate for the throne that comes with the hand of
the princess.

3. The Extent of the Role of Mérope

3.1 The two-couple structure in Persée presents
Quinault with a variety of possibilities for interaction among the four
main characters. Among the first possibilities that come to mind are
monologues for Persée and Andromède, tender scenes between
the two lovers, confrontations between Persée and Phinée,
and scenes of condolence or spite with Phinée and Mérope.
There are indeed two instances of this last combination, but only one
of the other three combined, unless one counts the battle in V, 5 and
V, 7, during which Persée and Phinée do not address each
other directly. There is only one love scene, less tender than most
of those by Quinault, and neither Persée nor Andromède
has a monologue, although Andromède does have an important lament
in IV, 5.

3.2 It is not, however, that there are no monologues (in the
strict sense of a character alone on stage), for Mérope has three
(I, 3; II, 4; and V, 1), in addition to a scene with Andromède
and another with Andromède and Persée. She figures in
more scenes (sixteen) than any other character and in a large number
of scenes that include no more than three characters. It is remarkable
that Quinault would not only invent a character but give her such a
large role.5

4. Mérope as a Means to an End

4.1 One way of trying to understand this situation is to adapt
the method developed by Georges Forestier, both in general and as he
applies it to Pierre Corneilles Andromède (1649–50).
As part of an effort to go from form to meaning, Forestier begins with
the denouement with which Corneille decided to end a play and works
back to the beginning, interpreting each scene in light of how it prepares
what follows.6
In the particular case of Andromède, he addresses the
criticism that the play is flawed because the action could end with
the victory of Persée over the monster at the end of Act IV.
The same criticism has been made of Persée,7 and to respond to it one can argue that the basic subject of the libretto
is the marriage of Persée and Andromède. Forestier shows
that Corneille structured his play to lead up to this marriage, and
that he made this structure clear by having Persée refer to the
oracle that forbids Andromède to marry a mortal.8 Although Quinault does not mention this oracle, it is clear that Persées
victories over Méduse (Act III) and the monster (Act IV) are
steps toward marrying Andromède (Act V) and not ends in themselves.
After an opening scene that explains the anger of the gods, the second
scene of the opera begins with Cassiope discussing the intended husbands
for Andromède and Mérope. Persée has offered to
cut off the head of Méduse before he knows Andromède loves
him, but when he learns of her love, he says Lamour mappelle
(Love calls me; II, 6, line 369).9 Similarly, his victory over the monster in Act IV is attributed to his
love: Quand lAmour anime un grand cœur / Il ne trouve rien
dimpossible (When love inspires a noble heart, nothing
is impossible; IV, 7, lines 736–7).

4.2 Given, then, that Quinault wanted to conclude his libretto
with the marriage of Persée and Andromède, how did he
use the character of Mérope to contribute to this end? Let us
start at the end. When we learn of her accidental death in V, 6, we
feel considerable pity for this woman who had overcome her desire to
stop the marriage of Persée and Andromède (II, 1-2), her
desire to die when she realized that was impossible (V, 1), then her
desire to have vengeance (V, 2). Her final act is to warn Persée
and his followers of the impending attack by Phinée and his rebels,
giving Persée time to arm, and thus saving his life (V, 4).

4.3 Her last lines before she rushes in to warn Persée
include the phrase douce vengeance (sweet vengeance;
V, 2, line 833). She has been led to this by Phinée, who found
her in tears and desiring death at the end of her monologue in the first
scene of Act V. She does not speak of vengeance on her own, however,
but only following the lead of Phinée. Since she does not suggest
violence, or even discuss it with him, but only listens to his long
speech (lines 810–32), one suspects here, as scene 4 will reveal,
that she is not completely set on vengeance.

4.4 She is in a similar situation at the beginning of Act IV:
her first reaction to the news of Persées victory over
Méduse—and thus of the increased probability of his marriage
to Andromède—is one of sadness, and she wants to be alone
before Phinée, again after a fairly long speech (IV, 2, lines
584–600), induces her to sing of her jealousy in a duet.

4.5 Before this, and before Persées two victories
that ensure his marriage to Andromède, Mérope tries to
stop the marriage. At the beginning of Act II she and Phinée
try to convince Cassiope to honor her promise to marry Phinée
to her daughter Andromède. Mérope is present in the next
scene, in which Phinée tries similar arguments with his brother
the king Céphée, and we can assume that she wants Phinée
to prevail—until the announcement that Persée has offered
to fight Méduse leads her to consider first his probable death,
then the possibility that he could win and be with Andromède,
then the fact that she still loves him even though he does not love
her in return (II, 4). This monologue (her second of three) is a pivotal
moment in her character: she has no hope, since Persée will either
die or marry Andromède, and all she can do is suffer in silence
or seek vengeance. It is this choice that she will consider in the opening
scenes of Acts IV and V, before yielding to more positive emotions (the
love that she is unable to deny at the end of II, 4) and acting in favor
of Persée.

4.6 Mérope struggles with similar emotions in the first
act. Unable to be spiteful (I, 2, lines 74–5) or to gain control
over her heart (I, 3, lines 80–1, in her first monologue), she
can only hope that time will heal her wounds or that a marriage between
Phinée and Andromède will make Persée available
to her. It is in this frame of mind that she finds herself at the beginning
of scene 4 of Act I, when Andromède and Phinée enter in
the midst of a quarrel.

5. Quinaults Act I, Scene 4

5.1 Until this scene, the spectator unfamiliar with the legend
of Perseus and Andromeda would think that Mérope was the most
important character in the opera. She appears in all of the first three
scenes and has more lines than Cassiope or Céphée, a queen
who has brought catastrophe to her country and a king who can do nothing
about it. We learn, however, that Méropes fate depends
on the choices of others, and though she has an impressive monologue,
she is reduced to her dernière espérance (last
hope; I, 3, line 97). She takes a minor role in scene 4, with
only 11 lines out of 77, plus six in a trio (see the Appendix).
Her goal here is to make Andromède and Phinée truly happy
lovers (line 109), thus freeing Persée for herself, but her efforts
are in vain. Furthermore, anyone but the hypothetical spectator who
does not know the story—an unlikely individual in a seventeenth-century
audience—knows that her efforts will be in vain. In short, Quinault
has invented a character who, on the surface, is a major player in the
drama, but who retreats to the background when she is present with one
of the other couples. How does he use her to structure this scene, and
what can this structure tell us about Quinaults skill at creating
well-crafted scenes that work well as a text to be read but that at
the same time can easily be set to music?

5.2 In the following analysis, which will concentrate mainly
on the portions of the scene involving Mérope, the transcription
of each segment is annotated (e.g., 3-3) to indicate the
number of syllables in each subdivision of the line as normally declaimed.
It will be seen that short lines normally have two subdivisions, each
marked by an accent at the end. (In conformity with standard practice,
unaccented syllables are not counted when they fall at the end of a
line. Thus, de craindre, line 99, is a two-syllable group.)
In the case of alexandrines (twelve-syllable lines), similar breakdowns
are given for each six-syllable hemistich. It should be noted that the
division of a line into subdivisions might split a word (as at rompre, line 107); the emphasis is on what the ear hears rather than what the
eye sees.

5.3 As mentioned above, the scene begins (line 98) with Phinée
and Andromède entering in the midst of a quarrel. The most obvious
way in which Mérope is used to structure the scene is by having
her interrupt the quarreling lovers. Quinault prepares Méropes
interruption by having Andromède and Phinée return in
lines 102–3 to the lines with which they began the scene (98–9);10
they are clearly at an impasse, having done almost nothing but vary
slightly the words sung by the other:

Andr. & Phin.:

Croyez-moi, croyez-moi.

6 (3-3)

98

Andromède:

{Cessez de craindre.

4 (2-2)

99

Phinée:

{Cessez de feindre.

Andromède:

Je veux vous aimer, je le dois.

8 (5-3)

100

Phinée:

Vous ne maimez pas, je le vois.

8 (5-3)

101

Andromède:

{Cessez de craindre.

4 (2-2)

102

Phinée:

{Cessez de feindre.

Andr. & Phin.:

Croyez-moi, croyez-moi.

6 (3-3)

103

Mérope:

Vous êtes tous deux aimables,

7 (5-2)

104

Et vous vous aimez tous deux;

7 (5-2)

105

Quels différends sont capables

7 (4-3)

106

De rompre de si beaux nœuds?

7 (2-5)

107

Que ne souffriront point les amants
misérables,

12 (6/3-3)

108

Si lAmour a des maux pour les
amants heureux?

12 (3-3/4-2)

109

[Andromède and Phinée: Believe
me, believe me. Andromède: Stop fearing. Phinée:
Stop pretending. Andromède: I want to love you, I should.
Phinée: You do not love me, I see that. Andromède:
Stop fearing. Phinée: Stop pretending. Andromède
and Phinée: Believe me, believe me. Mérope:
You are both attractive, and you love each other. What disagreements
are capable of breaking such a fine bond? How unhappy lovers must suffer
if Love brings pain to happy lovers!]

5.4 To make it clear that this is an interruption of an impasse
and not a continuation of the argument, Quinault gave Mérope—and
Lully—lines that are completely different from those of Andromède
and Phinée. The first difference one hears is in the sounds.11 After the harsh /k/ and /wa/ (/wε/ in seventeenth-century French)
of Croyez-moi, croyez-moi—we are not far from the
Quoi, quoi in I, 4 of Rameaus Platée!—the
/v/, /u/, /z/, and /ε/ of Vous êtes tous deux
are much softer and more pleasing to the ear. After all, Mérope
is trying to calm the quarreling lovers. Next, the ear notices the different
rhythms. The first six lines contain a series of paired rhythms, first
within individual lines, then across adjacent lines. These start with
the 3-3 rhythm of Croyez-moi, croyez-moi and the 2-2 rhythm
of Cessez de craindre. Each of the parallel lines Je
veux vous aimer, je le dois / Vous ne maimez pas, je le vois has a longer phrase followed by a shorter one, but the ear quickly recognizes
that both lines fall into a 5-3 pattern.

5.5 Mérope begins with two lines that are not only the
first in the scene with an uneven number of syllables but also the first
that do not repeat short rhythmic groups. Both have an overall pattern
of 5-2, but they do not begin with the same rhythmic pattern: line 104
has a slight pause after the second syllable, but line 105 does not.
This lack of a pattern becomes much more obvious in her next two lines
which, although of the same length, scan 4-3 and 2-5 rather than 5-2.
By this time the ear can also have noticed that the rhyming syllables
are different from those of the first six lines and that they seem to
be establishing a regular pattern (abab). This pattern indeed continues
in the next two lines, but the line lengths and rhythms change as we
hear the first two alexandrines of the scene. Each has a different rhythm,
despite the obvious parallel in content (although a negative one) between
the hemistiches les amants misérables and pour
les amans heureux (lines 108–9).

5.6 Mérope is clearly trying to establish the rhythmic
structure of dialogue, more varied than the rhythmic structure of argument
with its shorter, jabbing rhythmic units,12 but Andromède and Phinée are not quite ready; indeed,
they do not speak directly to each other but to the intermediary Mérope
for the next nine lines:

Andromède:

Sans raison son
chagrin éclate.

8
(3-5)

110

Phinée:

Perdrai-je sans chagrin mon
espoir le plus doux?

12 (2-4/3-3)

111

Condamnez une ingrate.

6 (3-3)

112

Andromède:

Condamnez
un amant jaloux.

8 (3-5)

113

Phinée:

Persée a su lui plaire,
et dune vaine excuse

12 (2-4/4-2)

114

Elle veut éblouir mon
amour outragé.

12 (3-3/3-3)

115

Elle maimait, non, je
mabuse,

8 (4-1-3)

116

Non, puisquelle a si
tôt changé,

8 (1-7)

117

Jamais son cœur pour moi
ne fut bien engagé.

12 (2-4/3-3)

118

[Andromède: For no reason his vexation
bursts forth. Phinée: Shall I lose my sweetest hope without
vexation? Condemn a heartless woman. Andromède: Condemn
a jealous lover. Phinée: Persée has known how to
please her, and with an empty excuse she wants to overpower my outraged
love. She used to love me. No, I delude myself. No, since she has changed
so soon, her heart must never have been mine.]

Phinée does break away from the brief stabs and accusations
of the first six lines with an alexandrine (line 111), but then he falls
back into the jabbing 3-3 rhythm of lines 98 and 103 with Condamnez
une ingrate (line 112). Andromède takes him a step farther
in the next line by beginning her sentence in the same way he had but
then ending with a five-syllable grouping (Condamnez un amant
jaloux), as she had in her first line in this section (line 110).
The sounds are again much harsher than Méropes, especially
the /k/, /a/ , and //
of chagrin, éclate and condamnez.
Phinée finally breaks away from these sounds and these rhythmic
patterns with his next five lines (114–8), though he still does
not address Andromède directly.

5.7 Much later, after a long dialogue for
Andromède and Phinée in which Mérope does not participate,
the lines immediately preceding Méropes interruption (100–3)
will return (155–8), heralding a second such interruption. In
retrospect, once we have read or listened all the way to the end of
the scene, we realize that this return of lines from the beginning,
with their sounds and rhythms so characteristic of verbal sparring,
marks the end of a long, central section. Reading the scene for content,
one might expect this central section to begin with line 119, when Andromède
and Phinée begin to speak directly to each other (see the Appendix).
From the point of view of form, however—and Forestiers critique
génétique is an effort to go from form to meaning—the
central section begins with line 114 (shown above), after the parallel
lines 112–3, with the break from the sounds and rhythms of the
opening section. From this point forward the central dialogue is organized
in relatively long speeches instead of rapid exchanges, each at least
four lines, and the alexandrine is the dominant line length. Furthermore,
Phinées lines 114–8 are not addressed directly to
Mérope; they return to the more general third person after the
second person (imperative) of the two preceding lines.

5.8 Quinault prepares the transition to the return of the opening
section well, beginning with line 148, where Andromède reacts
to Phineés threat to do Persée bodily harm:

Andromède:

Juste Ciel!

Phinée:

Vous
tremblez! Persée a su vous plaire

12
(3-3/2-4)

148

Si son péril peut vous
troubler.

8
(4-4)

149

Andromède:

Le Ciel nest que trop
en colère,

8
(2-6)

150

Et vous bravez un Dieu qui
peut vous accabler;

12
(4-2/2-4)

151

Cest pour vous que je
dois trembler.

8
(3-5)

152

Phinée:

Ne vous servez point dartifice.

8
(5-3)

153

Andromède:

Ne me faites point dinjustice.

8
(5-3)

154

Je veux vous aimer, je le dois.

8
(5-3)

155

Phinée:

Vous ne maimez pas, je
le vois.

8
(5-3)

156

Andromède:

{ Cessez de craindre.

4
(2-2)

157

Phinée:

{ Cessez de feindre

Andr. & Ph.:

Croyez-moi, croyez-moi.

6
(3-3)

158

[Andromède: Heavens above! Phinée:
You tremble! Persée has certainly known how to please you if
you are troubled by his peril. Andromède: The Heavens
are only too angry, and you defy a god who can crush you. It is for
you that I tremble. Phinée: Do not be deceitful. Andromède:
Do not do me injustice. I want to love you, I should. Phinée:
You do not love me, I see that. Andromède: Stop fearing.
Phinée: Stop pretending. Andromède and Phinée:
Believe me, believe me.]

He gives Andromède and Phinée shorter speeches beginning
with line 148 and then shorter lines beginning with line 149, before
returning in lines 153–4 to the familiar 5-3 pattern of lines
100–1—lines that will themselves recur in lines 155–6.
Lines 153–4 also mark a return to rhyming pairs of lines spoken
by different characters, a feature last heard at je le dois
and je le vois in lines 100–1 (not to mention the
simultaneous rhyme, craindre and feindre, in
line 102).

5.9 After lines from the opening of the scene have returned
(155–8), Mérope interrupts again:

Mérope:

Il craint autant
quil aime,

6 (2-4)

159

Vous devez lexcuser.

6 (3-3)

160

Lamour extrême

4 (2-2)

161

Sert dexcuse lui-même

6 (3-3)

162

Aux craintes quil a
su causer.

8 (2-6)

163

Mér.,
And., & Phi.:

Ah! que lamour cause
dalarmes!

8 (1-3-4)

164

Ah! que lamour aurait
dattraits,

8 (1-3-4)

165

Sil ne troublait jamais

6 (4-2)

166

La douceur de ses charmes!

6 (3-3)

167

Ah! que lamour aurait
dattraits,

8 (1-3-4)

168

Si lon aimait toujours
en paix!

8 (4-4)

169

[Mérope: He fears as much as he loves.
You should excuse him. Extreme love serves as the excuse itself for
the fears it causes. Mérope, Andromède,
Phinée: Ah! How love causes anxiety! Ah! How attractive
love would be if its sweet charms were never troubled! Ah! How attractive
love would be if one always loved in peace!]

She does not use a different line length this time (she keeps to the
same lengths of four, six and eight syllables found in lines 155–8),
nor even very different sounds from those of Phinée and Andromède
(craint in particular echoes craindre, feindre,
and croyez of the preceding lines). She does avoid using
the same rhythmic pattern in successive lines, however, and she introduces
new sounds (Lamour extrême, for example, in
line 161) before returning to the sounds of the quarrel in Aux
craintes quil a su causer (line 163). This combination of
the familiar and the new does not create a movement from argument to
dialogue, as had her first speech (lines 104–9), which contrasted
so sharply with what had come before. Instead, the combination leads
to a trio that has a different structure from the preceding lines but
also maintains several similarities. The line lengths (6, 8) are similar
to those of Méropes lines 159–63, yet their rhythms
are different. The sounds are mostly similar to Méropes
Lamour extrême (and to those of many love songs,
which favor words such as amour, douceur, charmes,
and toujour), but an element of harshness is introduced by the
sounds of words such as attraits.13 On the whole, there are enough common formal elements in these eleven
lines (159–69), to allow the listener to realize that the trio
is not an independent musical number but a response to Méropes
intervention, parallel to the four lines (110–3) sung by Andromède
and Phinée near the beginning of the scene. As in lines 98–113,
argument and intervention are followed by an interaction involving all
three characters (Andromède and Phinée address Mérope
in lines 111–3), and there is a strong sense that a carefully
constructed ABA' structure has come to a close.

5.10 Indeed, the trio could end the scene. The lovers are not
quite through quarreling, however, and Andromède and Phinée
begin another exchange, interrupted this time not by Mérope but
by Andromèdes announcement that the games are about to
begin. It is a brilliant stroke by Quinault, I would say, prolonging
briefly a clear pattern of quarrel-interruption-dialogue-quarrel-interruption
only to end it by the occurrence of an external event.

5.11 To summarize, one could outline the
scene as follows:

A
(16 lines)

Argument (98–103)

Méropes intervention
(104–9)

Interaction: Andromède
and Phinée address Mérope (110–3)

B (41 lines)

Dialogue between Andromède
and Phinée (114–54)

A' (15 lines)

Repeat of part of the argument
(155–8)

Méropes second
intervention (159–63)

Trio for Mérope, Andromède
and Phinée (164–9)

Transition
(5 lines)

Argument between Andromède
and Phinée begins again,
but is quickly interrupted (170–4)

6. Lullys Act I, Scene 4 in Relation to
Quinaults Poetry

6.1 In studying Lullys score,14 what can we learn about, if not his actual interaction with Quinault
(leaving open the fascinating question of whether Lully might have asked
for any changes), at least his reaction to the text Quinault had provided?
Since I have described a way of dividing the poetry of the scene into
sections and subsections, based on its form and concentrating on the
role of Mérope, let us look at some of Lullys sections
and subsections, especially those that involve the role of Mérope.15

6.2 The A section of the libretto
and its subsections are clearly delineated in the score. The scene begins
in G major, which will change to G minor at the beginning of the B
section. The vocal lines of the first exchange between Andromède
and Phinée (lines 98–103)—set as a duet with imitative
entries—are, as befits an argument, direct and clear-cut, made
up entirely of quarter and eighth notes in duple meter, often
with repeated notes on the same pitch. Mérope does not change
the key when she intervenes (she is not that strong a character), but
her passage (lines 104–9), having the dance-like lilt of a triple-meter
air, creates a strong contrast with the insistent rhythms and overlapping
phrase units of the argument (Example
1, Figure
1, Audio 1). This passage suggests Méropes
desire to establish a calmer atmosphere, but her efforts fail, and in
the final segment of section A, Andromède abandons
the triple meter with the last word of her first line (éclate).
She and Phinée soon sound as they did at the beginning of the
scene, and a strong cadence in G major ends the section (Example
2, Figure 2, Audio 2).

6.3 The move from section B
to section A' of the libretto is less straightforward.
As discussed above, Quinault has supplied Lully with a return to some
of the opening dialogue, suggesting a reprise of the opening section,
but the return to earlier poetry does not come at the beginning of a
speech. As a result, Lully begins section A' in the
middle of a musical phrase. (Quinault had provided a smooth transition:
in lines 154–5: Ne me faites point dinjustice
has the same rhythm as Je veux vous aimer, je le dois. Lully
followed his lead, setting the lines with parallel rhythmic values.)
Once the reprise is underway, Lully uses almost exactly the same music
he had used the first time this passage was heard (Example
3, Figure 3, Audio 3). The end of the reprise (i.e., the
end of the first subsection of A', before Méropes
second intervention) is marked by a strong cadence.16

6.4 Moreover, Lully had already reestablished
the key of G major near the middle of section B,17 with Phinées air Vous suivez à regret
(lines 136–9). Thus, the return from minor to major is used not
to emphasize the reprise (A') but rather to divide
the scene roughly in half: the return to the original mode comes near
the middle of the scene, after thirty-eight lines and with thirty-nine
remaining, and near the middle of section B, after twenty-two
lines and with nineteen remaining. (For a visual image of these proportions,
see my annotated libretto for the complete scene in the Appendix.)
The distinction between minor and major modes thus sets off the first
two exchanges between Andromède and Phinée in section
B (lines 114–35) from the next series of exchanges
(lines 136–54). Each of the two minor-mode exchanges ends with
Andromède asking a rather rhetorical question, referring to lovers
in general, not to the two individuals involved: in lines 121–2,
Un amant assuré du bonheur quil désire, /
Peut-il être jaloux dun malheureux rival? (Can
a lover assured of the happiness he desires be jealous of an unhappy
rival?); and in lines 134–5, A-t-on accoutumé
/ De fuir ce que lon aime? (Do people make a habit
of avoiding those they love?). In the major-mode portion, on the
other hand, the initial exchange ends with Andromèdes question
about the specific situation (line 143), which leads in turn to Phinées
interjection (Ah!) and his threat of bodily harm (line 144),
and then to her frightened reaction (line 148):

Andromède:

Votre importun
soupçon veut-il mouvrir les yeux?

12 (4-2/4-2)

143

Phinée:

Ah! si vous le flattiez de
la moindre espérance,

12 (1-5/3-3)

144

Le Dieu quil vous fait
croire auteur de sa naissance,

12 (2-4/2-4)

145

Dût-il faire éclater
son foudroyant courroux,

12 (3-3/4-2)

146

Ne le sauverait pas de mon
transport jaloux.

12 (6/4-2)

147

Andromède:

Juste Ciel!

Phinée:

Vous
tremblez! Persée a su vous plaire

12 (3-3/2-4)

148

Si son péril peut vous
troubler.

8 (4-4)

149

[Andromède: Does your troubling suspicion
seek to open my eyes? Phinée: Ah! If you delude him with
the least hope, the god whom he claims as the author of his birth, even
if he should unleash his thunderous anger, would not save him from my
jealous transport. Andromède: Heavens above! Phinée:
You tremble! Persée has certainly known how to please you if
you are troubled by his peril.]

This second series of exchanges constitutes, from the point of view
of its poetic content, a continuum that it would not seem appropriate
to divide with a strong musical articulation.18

6.5 Several elements of poetic form also suggest a strong articulation
between lines 135 and 136, the point at which Lully returns to major
mode. Lines 134–5 are the only pair of adjacent six-syllable lines
in the scene before Méropes second intervention, and while
their combined line length makes it possible to read them as the fourth
in a series of four alexandrines, the rhyme between alarmé
and accoutumé clearly identifies line 134 as an independent
line, a status that Lully underscores by giving strong metric, rhythmic,
and harmonic weight to the last syllable of line 134 (heard twice).19 This pair of six-syllable lines serves as section-ending punctuation,
slowing the pace before the return to alexandrines in lines 136–7.

Andromède:

Quel plaisir prenez-vous à vous troubler vous-même?

12 (3-3/4-2)

131

Et de quoi votre amour peut-il être alarmé?

12 (3-3/3-3)

132

Je fuis votre rival avec un
soin extrême;

12 (2-4/4-2)

133

A-t-on accoutumé

6 (2-4)

134

De fuir ce que lon aime?

6 (2-4)

135

Phinée:

Vous suivez à regret
la Gloire et le Devoir,

12 (3-3/2-4)

136

En fuyant un amant à vos yeux trop aimable.

12 (3-3/3-3)

137

Vous lavez trouvé redoutable,

8 (5-3)

138

Puisque vous craignez de le
voir.

8 (5-3)

139

[Andromède: What pleasure do you
take in becoming upset? And for what reason can your love worry you?
I take extreme care to stay away from your rival. Do people make a habit
of avoiding those they love? Phinée: With regret you follow
the path of Glory and Duty by avoiding a lover whom you find too attractive.
You have evidently found him formidable since you fear to see him.]

6.6 Quinault also emphasizes the end of the G-minor portion
by beginning its final sentence (lines 133–5) with a two-syllable
group (Je fuis), which stands out after several hemistiches
beginning with three- or four-syllable groups. The Je fuis
of line 133 also begins a declarative clause, presenting a contrast
with the two questions preceding it. The return to G major in line 136
thus comes at a clear point of articulation but not, from the point
of view of the poetic content of the scene, one as clear as that made
by the return of lines 100–3 at the end of section B.

6.7 The fact that neither Quinault nor Lully comes to a full
stop (beginning of a new speech; full cadence) after line 154, the end
of the B section, suggests that they wanted their three-part
structure to convey something more than formal balance. Since they do
not precede the beginning of section A' with a strong
point of articulation, the return of Je veux vous aimer, je le
dois (line 155) strikes the listener as an indication of the lack
of communication between Andromède and Phinée (their discussion
has gotten them nowhere and they can only repeat earlier statements)
before it can be recognized as the beginning of a section. Again, this
inability to communicate is underlined by an intervention by Mérope,
who begins the second subsection of section A' as
she had the second subsection of section A, in lilting triple
meter. In other words, A' clearly parallels A,
despite the lack of a strong point of articulation to begin it.

6.8 The third subsection, like that in section A,
moves away from the triple meter of Méropes solo and reintroduces
Andromède and Phinée. The presence of an ensemble here
(a trio), instead of a dialogue as in the corresponding part of section
A, suggests a conclusion to the structure. Nevertheless,
the brief transitional passage (lines 170–4) that follows the
trio, in which Andromède and Phinée briefly quarrel before
attention quickly turns to the divertissement to follow, underlines
the fact that the three characters all have different points of view
even though they sang the same words in the trio, and that the argument
could break out again. The structure of the scene as a whole thus remains
open-ended; it does not conclude with the end of section A',
just as it did not come to a strong point of poetic or musical articulation
before the beginning of section A'.

7. Conclusion

7.1 In many ways, then, it is Mérope who gives the scene its
structure and much of its interest. Without her, it would have been
a long—and potentially tedious—argument between two characters,
an argument that, since it goes nowhere, would be difficult to structure.
More important, it is Mérope who, with her two interventions,
provides the three-part structure for sections A and A',
thus giving shape to the outer sections of the form. And perhaps still
more important, it is her second intervention that allows Lully to make
clear that we are in a third section (A'), similar
to the first, without having to interrupt the argument between
Andromède and Phinée with a strong point of articulation.
It is Mérope who provides the interruption, so Lully can allow
the music to flow smoothly from one section to another, for the sake
of the drama.

7.2 One begins to see why Quinault would invent this remarkable character,
and how Lully helps him bring her to life. (Again the unanswerable question:
how much of her role was Lullys idea?) She is a key character,
but it is clear from this scene that hers is also a secondary role.
By the end of the scene, she has been led into an ensemble with characters
whose feelings she does not share, just as she will be led by Phinée
in IV, 2 and V, 2. She began the scene immediately after a monologue
similar to those of important, domineering characters such as Médée
(Thésée) and Cybèle (Atys); at the
end she is part of a trio in a scene dominated by two other characters.
She is essential to the structure of the libretto, but she must disappear
before the end. For, to return to Forestiers génétique
théâtrale method, it was probably with the end that
Quinault began—that is, with a marriage between Andromède
and Persée—and Mérope is not a part of that end.
She must have been a very important part of the discussions between
Quinault and Lully as they created Persée, however, and
their treatment of her offers an excellent example of how poetry and
music can be combined to turn an almost commonplace formal scheme into
a delicate portrait of three characters.

References

* Buford Norman (normanb@gwm.sc.edu)
is Alcorn Memorial Professor of Foreign Languages at the University
of South Carolina. Among his publications are a critical edition of
Quinaults librettos, and Touched by the Graces: The Libretti of
Philippe Quinault in the Context of French Classicism (Birmingham,
Ala.: Summa, 2001). His current project is a study of Racine and music.

** I would like to thank
Lois Rosow, the other participants in the Persée sessions
at the Musical Intersections conference in Toronto (November
2000), and the readers for the Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music
for their valuable suggestions.

1 The best
known account is that of Jean-Laurent Lecerf de la Viéville,
in Comparaison de la musique italienne, et de la musique françoise,
2nd ed. (Brussels: Foppens, 1705–6; reprint, Geneva: Minkoff,
1972), 2:212–6. I have discussed this collaboration in the introduction
to my Touched by the Graces, especially pp. 27–30.

2 I do not
mean to suggest that Lully had no influence on Quinaults literary
structure, or that Quinault had none on Lullys musical structure
(beyond the shape of the poetry itself). There is likely to be some
truth to the stories that Lully frequently insisted that Quinault make
revisions, and I would like to think that Quinault sometimes suggested
how Lully might set a particular line or organize a particular scene.

3 Quinault
also wrote librettos for two large-scale court ballets by Lully during
this period.

5 One possible
reason is that Lully needed a better role for Marie (Marthe)
Le Rochois than that of a vain and aging queen. Le Rochois had recently
had great success as Aréthuse in Proserpine and would
soon replace Marie Aubry—who sang Andromède in 1682 but
would retire two years later—as the leading soprano. However,
whatever the reasons, the structure stands as it is, and an analysis
of the role of Mérope does not depend on Quinaults intentions.

6 Georges
Forestier, Essai de génétique théâtrale:
Corneille à lœuvre, Collection desthéthique 59
(Paris: Klincksieck, 1996). Forestier also looks at many other aspects
of Corneilles plays, including the situation in which Corneille
found himself when he chose the subject of a play. It would require
a separate, and rather long, essay to look carefully at Quinaults
situation in 1681–2, and I can only suggest here a few directions
for further inquiry. I have already discussed briefly how one can compare Persée to the librettos that preceded it. More specifically,
why would Quinault choose the legend of Perseus? (If he had a choice:
the legend was frequently used as an allegorical representation of a
monarchs virtues, and according to the dedicatory epistle in the
1682 score, Louis XIV chose the subject; see the quotation in my Touched
by the Graces, 244, or the quoted excerpts in Manuel Couvreur, Jean-Baptiste
Lully: musique et dramaturgie au service du Prince [Brussels: Marc
Vokar Editeur, 1992], 342–4.) The most obvious answer is that
it contains a well-known hero and a love story with spectacular scenes
including gods, goddesses, and monsters. Why would he emphasize rivalry?
He was perhaps looking back at the jealousies that resulted in his disgrace
in 1677, perhaps looking forward to the installation of the court at
Versailles in May 1682, which would only further intensify the rivalries
among courtiers.

11 From
the point of view of the listener, what the ear hears earliest and most
readily is of key importance for the recognition of formal structure.
Sound and rhythm would thus take precedence over such structural elements
as line length, speech length, and rhyme, in spite of the great importance
of these latter elements for an overall understanding of form, especially
when reading. The composer complicated matters, adding musical sounds
and structure to poetic ones, but he most likely took into account which
poetic elements were most immediately accessible to listeners.

12 The
fact that Lully set these lines for Mérope as an air does not
contradict a reading of them as an attempt at dialogue. In the first
place, one can read them as a literary text, independent of Lullys
setting. In the second place, the musical contrast between this air
and the preceding duet underscores Méropes efforts to change
the pace, while the fact that the air will not be answered by another
air suggests that her efforts will not be successful.

13 The
meaning of the word is of course not as harsh as its sounds,
but there is a suggestion of the arrows (traits) of love, which
can cause pain as well as pleasure.

15 This
is essentially the same issue that Rosow studies in Act V, scene 1 of
Armide: Lullys manner of giving large-scale shape
to dialogue scenes by introducing points of articulation of varying
strength; Lois Rosow, The Articulation of Lullys Dramatic
Dialogue, Lully Studies, ed. John Hajdu Heyer (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), 72–3. Other scholars talk of
scene-building, the use of recurring elements, patterns of scoring,
alternating musical elements, and tonal architecture; see, for example,
Raphaëlle Legrand, Persée de Lully et Quinault:
orientations pour lanalyse dramaturgique dune tragédie
en musique, Analyse musicale 27 (1992): 9–14. In
the dialogue scenes of French tragédie en musique, these
points of articulation are less obvious than in those of Italian opera
seria, where a quick look at the libretto reveals an obvious distinction
between recitative and aria.

16 The
cadences ending the two statements of the duet are different. See Gregory
Proctors A Schenkerian Look, paragraph
4.7.

18 This
second series of exchanges is also characterized by a different type
of vocabulary, featuring words associated with violence, such as craignez,
éclater, foudroyant courroux, and transport
jaloux (fear, break out, thunderous
anger, jealous transport). Earlier, lines 123–30
had a more galant vocabulary, such as chaine and poids
charmant (chain, charming weight), and remained
somewhat conciliatory.